Hand appliance for hauling chains



March 23, 1954 F. E. DEANS ET AL HAND APPLIANCE FOR HAULING CHAINS 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 11, 1950 March 23, 1954 F. E. DEANS ET AL HAND APPLIANCE FOR HAULING CHAINS 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 11, 1950 March 23, 1954 F. E. DEANS ET AL HAND APPLIANCE FOR HAULING CHAINS 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Jan. 11, 1950 March 23, 1954 F. E. DEANS ET AL HAND APPLIANCE FOR HAULING CHAINS 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Jan. 11, 1950 g Inventor; j X Z 'LM/W March 23, 1954 F. E. DEANS ET AL HAND APPLIANCE FOR HAULING CHAINS 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Jan. 11, 1950 lnventow March 23, 1954 F. E. DEANS ET AL HAND APPLIANCE FOR HAULING CHAINS 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 Filed Jan. 11, 1950 Patented Mar. 23, 1954 2,672,743 HAND APPLIANCE FOR HAULING CHAINS Frederick Edward Dean Wainwright, Kent, Groby,

Engineering Compan land Application January 11, 1950, Serial No.

and Carlyle Herbert and Alfred Woodward ssignors to The Bentley y, Limited, Leicester, Eng- Claims priority, application Great Britain January 13,

7 Claims.

1 This invention concerns a hand appliance which is arranged to be attached to a chain and affords a hand grip permitting the chain to be hauled manually. An important application of the invention is to knitting machines. Knitting machines, and especially circular knitting machines of the type known as seamless hose or half hose machines, are commonly provided with a patterning or timing chain built up from a multiplicity of readily detachable links each of which is provided at one end with an integral hook which hooks on to a cross bar at the end of the adjacent link; at the requisite oints in the length of this chain the links are provided with studs or cams which as the chain is periodically racked round serve to time or initiate various automatic operations of the machine. For details of a widely-used chain of this type, reference may be made to the specification of British Letters Patent a new stocking or sock). This necessitates the operator grasping a portion of the chain with his or her hand, pulling that grease or oil on the chain should thereby be transferred to the operators hand and this grease or oil is eventually transferred to the work under production, and this is disadvantageous.

An object of this invention is the provision of a hand appliance which may be fitted to the timing or patterning chain of a knitting machine and which affords a hand grip of WhlCh the operator may avail himself or herself to pull the chain round thereby avoiding direct the chain. It will be appreciated however that the utility of such a device is not restricted to knitting machines and that it may be employed in other circumstances in which it is desired to haul a chain by hand, for example in pulley block systems employing chains, and chain hoists.

The invention therefore provides a hand appliance for use in hauling a chain by hand, constructed and arranged to be mounted on the chain and itself affording a hand grip, which appliance incorporates means for looking it to the chain against relative movement in one direction but permitting of relative movement in the other direction. By relative movement there is meant may freely travel down through the appliance 9 when the latter is stationary, and the appliance may freely be raised up the chain, but if the appliance, when elevated, is forced downward it looks on the chain and causes the latter to be moved downwards.

The utility of the knitting machines, in particular, will therefore be apparent.

The locking means is preferably automatic in operation, although it may be of a kind requiring a member operating such a catch) between "locked and free positions. If the locking means so that the direction in which relative movement is inhibited may be reversed at will. For example, assuming the appliance to be associated with a vertical lap of a chain, either the latter, when raised,

the control may be so operated that these con-' or manually operable, it advantageously incor porates a sprocket which engages the chain and either rotates or is prevented from rotating according to whether the locking means is inoperative or operative. The ratchet may be constituted by the chain itself, or by a ratchet wheel attached to the sprocket, or by the sprocket it-' self. If the ratchet is constituted by the chain itself, the pawl is desirably arranged to engage the cross bars of the chain links which cross bars therefore serve as ratchet teeth. If the ratchet is a ratchet wheel, or the sprocket itself, then the the chain down past the appliance in connection with is automatic in operthat the chain is k 9 a ratchet mechanism in effect constitutes a free wheel mechanism associated with the sprocket but free wheel mechanisms that do not incorporate a pawl and ratchet (e. g. having wedging balls or rollers) are known and may be used in this in vention.

Specifically, the invention provides a hand appliance for use in hauling a chain and affording a hand grip, which appliance comprises a hollow member affording through it interior a passageway for the passage of the chain, guides for engaging the chain in its passage through the passage-way and for locating the applianc in relation to the chair, a sprocket on said member for meshing with the chain, and a pawl permitting rotation of the sprocket in one direction only.

The invention further includes a knitting machine having a patterning or timing chain of the type referred to, a hand appliance, having the features herein specified, on the chain, and a stop on the machine restricting movement of the appliance in the direction of normal travel of the chain.

The foregoing and other features of the invention set out in the appended claims are incorporated in the hand appliances which will now be described (as examples of preferred construe-- tions) with reference to the accompanying drawings in'which:

Figure 1 is a front elevation, Figure 2 a side elevation, and Figure 3 a rear elevation of one hand-appliance Figure 4 is a section taken in Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a section taken on the line V-V in Fig.2.

Figure 6 is a view looking on the bottom end of the appliance;

Figure '7 is a front elevation, Figure 8 a side elevation, and Figure 9 a rear elevation of a further appliance Figure 10 is in longitudinal section taken on the line X-X in Figure 7;

Figure 11 is a section taken on the line XI-XI inFig. 8;

Figures 12, Band 14, are sectional views showing, respectively, three modified constructions.

In this description, it is convenient to consider the appliance (which is preferably made of metal) in the upright attitude which it occupies when applied to the timing chain of a seamless hose or half hose machine. In the construction shown in Figs. 1-6, the appliance is in the main of hollow tubular form comprising a conveniently-shaped handling portion 1 and providing iniits interior an elongated vertical tunnel 2 for the downward passage of the chain 3 in contact with a guide plate l forming what may be regarded as the back of the tunnel, and since the hooks -6 of chain links ii in timing chains of the type under consideration usually protrude slightly at the back of the chain as shown at l in :Figs. 2 and 4, this guide plate 4 is formed with a centrally disposed vertical groove 8 to accommodate these protruding parts i of the hooks. The chain 3 is further guided in contact with this guide plate 4 by sprocket 9 hereinafter described and by a vertical guide rib 10 which is attached to the front wall ll of the tunnel and is arranged to engage the front of the chain links, the width of this rib ii! being such that forwardly protruding studs H! on the side bars l3 of the chain links pass at either side of it. Additionally, the tunnel is sufiiciently wide to accommodate :side studs 14 which may be proon the line IV-IV 4 vided on the side bars iii of the links and which protrude from the edges of the chain in the general plane of the chain links 5.

A small distance below th top of the tunnel, but above the top end of the guide rib 10 just mentioned, the tunnel is formed with an enlargement or pocket [5 in which the chain sprocket 8 is pivotally mounted for movement about a horizontal axis iii which is transverse to the length of the tunnel. This sprocket 9 has its teeth ll constructed and arranged to mesh with the links 5 of the chain 3 and it serves tohold the chain at this location against the rear guide plate 4. Associated with the sprocket 9 there is a pawl 18 which is pivoted at l9 and is urged by a spring to engage between the sprocket teeth. This pawl i8 is so arranged that it will yield to permit the sprocket 9 to rotate as the chain 3 passes down the tunnel 2 and as the hand appliance is being shifted up the chain, but it is also so arranged that it prevent the sprocket 9 from rotating in such reverse direction as would permit the chain travelling up through the tunnel and the hand appliance being moved down the chain. The sprocket therefore acts as a ratchet wheel, and it will be appreciated that the hand appliance when fitted to the chain does not prevent the chain travelling downwards through it in the normal operation of the machines (the appliance then resting on a bottom stop provided for it on the machine) but when it is desired to pull the chain round by hand the appliance may be grasped by hand, lifted up the chain (during which movement the sprocket 9 revolves) and then pulled downwards; this downward pull carries the chain 3 with it because the pawl 18 then prevents the sprocket 9 from rotating. The pawl I8 is releasable by means of a thumb-piece 2i protruding through a slot '22 in the front wall 23 of pocket iii.

The front wall ii of the tunnel 2 may be continued above the pocket It in order to provide a thumb guard which will prevent the thumb of that hand which grasps the appliance being caught by the chain studs.

In the construction shown in Figs. 7-10, the main body of the appliance (affording tunnel 2) is indicated at l and the back plate at 4. The guide rib I0 is replaced by a sprocket 24, the main body I being modified in shape to accommodate this additional sprocket and also formed into a finger guard as shown at 25 which will prevent the thumb of that hand which grasps the appliance being caught by the chain studs. The two sprockets 9 and 24 are pivotally mounted for movement about horizontal axes whichare transverse to the length of the tunnel, the spindles 26, 21 of said sprockets being located in the slots 28 and 29 in the front portion I. The slots 28 and 29 are used instead of holes merely to enable the sprockets 9 and 24 to be assembled easily, as each spindle and its sprocket may then be made integral and inserted in the front portion I before the back plate 4 is assembled. This will readily be appreciated from an inspection of Fig. 11. The two sprockets 9, 26 have their teeth constructed to mesh with the links of the chain 3 and also serve to hold the chain against the back plate 4'. As best shown in Figs. 9 and 10 the back plate 4' is cut away .at 30 to allow the hooks 5 of the chain links 5 to protrude through the plate 4' whilst the side bars 13 of the links slide along the face of the plate. Associated with'the sprockets .9, 2.4' there is a pawl 18 pivotally'mounted on the spindle .21 of 2,672,748 sprocket 24 and urged by a spring 32 to enga e is effected by hand lever 21c protruding through he teeth of the sprocket 9. is pawl 18' is so at c in casing to, and will e seen that arranged that it will yield to permit the sprocket whereas the operative pawl arm will, when ento rotate as the chain 3 passes down the tungaged in the chain, prevent movement of the appliance being moved down the chain. The by pressure on the hand lever Zlc. However, it pawl I 8' is made with one extremity formed into is within the scope of the invention to provide a finger piece 2! which protrudes through a hole a snap action spring 42' which, like spring 42 in 22' formed in the front portion I, and during lg. 13, causes the pawl 8 to p Over to either chain is moving downwards or when the appliuntil moved by hand lever 2|c. Elements Ill are ance is being moved up the chain preparatory to u d c s for holding t Chain a s the pulling the chain round, the nger piece 2! back plate 4 oscillates freely to the position shown by the We claim chain dotted lines in Fig 10. ow as is well A h nd ppli n diu l l n a hain own it is often necessary to move the chain of generally fiat open links for pullin p rpo in the reverse direction from that in which it c mprising a tubular casing sha ed exteriorly to moves when the machine is normally working fit the users handgup a longitud nal guideway s can be achieved simpl by gripping the spein such casing comprising a flat face to guide clally formed part 33 of the front portion I and h op n links f th h n, h d k t the finger piece 2| together; this results in the ely aab e in S d Casing d having its end 34 of the pawl 2i engaging the teeth of the teeth extending successively into said guideway two oppositely-acting pawls l8a, I81: and a re-- sprocket. versing control comprising a bluff or pawl lifter 2. A hand appliance adjustable along a chain movable manually to render either selected. for pulling purposes, comprising a trough-secbody la and is formed with opposed cam-like drawing, pawl lBa is blufled or inoperative. j ting out of the casing through a slot, and a together, at least some of which are forwardlyually-operable means for causing th operate on either selected sprocket at will. Pawl sides, a trough-sectioned casing with an en- I 80 is pivoted at 33 at an intermediate point in largement at its upper end, an attached flat plate its length, and at one end is provided with a closing in the otherwise open side of the trough 22b in the casing lb. A tension spring 42 serves tached plate to form a guideway for the chain to cause the pawl BC to move over the dead links with their said studs and arms, a toothed sprocket.

In a modification (not illustrated) of this last mounted in said enlargement and having one of construction there may be a pawl for each its limbs projecting out of the casing through a sprocket and manually-operable means for ren- 05 slot therein, and a spring normally holding the dering either selected pawl inoperative (and the pawl in the path of the sprocket teeth to prevent other operative) at will. reverse rotation.

Fig. 14 illustrates a construction in which the 4. A hand appliance adjustable along a chain ratchet is constituted by the chain 3 itself. The of fiat open links for pulling purposes comprisdouble-acting pawl I'Bd is pivoted at 38 and is mg a trough shaped casing to receive the chain 7 side or the trough, a pair of toothed sprockets lectively into the teeth of either sprocket to ob in the trough, mounted on parallel transverse struct its reverse rotation, a spring urging the axes, with their peripheries adiacent the inner pawl into its selected position, and a pivoted trip face i such plate as they rotate, a pawl mountlever extending out of the casing and in operative ed on the axis of one sprocket and movable into connection with said pawl to withdraw it from and out of the teeth of the other sprocket to the respective sprockets.

obstruct reverse rotation of the said other '7. In a circular knitting machine, a hanging sprocket, spring means in the casing urging the downwardly-moving pattern chain composed oi pawl into said teeth, and a trip lever on said flat,coplanar open links,atubular casing shaped pawl extending out of the casing. exteriorly to fit the users handgrip, a longi- 5'. A hand appliance adjustable along a chain tudinal guideway in such casing with at least of generally-flat open links for pulling purposes, one fiat face to guide the open links of the chain, comprising a tubular casing shaped exteriorly at least one toothed sprocket freely rotatable in tofit the users handgrip, a longitudinal guidesaid casing and having its teeth extending suc-' way in such casing comprising a flat face to cessively into said guideway as it rotates, to mesh guide the open links of the chain, a toothed with successive links of the chain, at least one sprocket freely rotatable in said casing and havspring pressed pawl in said casing normally op in s teeth eXtending SucGeSS'lVelY to Said structing reverse rotation of said sprocket, a trip guideway as it rotates, to mesh with successive member projecting out of the casing for withlinks of the chain, a pair of pawls in the casing drawal of the pawl from the said sprocket, and w Spring means urging m into the teeth a stop member in the path of the downwardlyof the sprocket at opposite sides to obstruct moving hand-grip.

reverse rotation of the sprocket, a pivoted pawl- FREDERICK EDWARD DEANS. lifting member on the axis of the sprocket and CARLYLE HERBERT WAINWRIGHT. engaging the pawls selectively, and a trip lever ALFRED WOODWARD KENT. on said pawl-lifting member extending out of i the casing through a slot therein. Refierenoes Cited in the file of this patent 6. A hand ap liance ad ustahle along a chain UNITED STATES PATENTS of generally-fiat open links folr pulmgtpur iises, Numbev Name Date comprising a tubu ar casing s iape ex erior y o fit the users handgrip, a longitudinal guideway g gg "g -g8 in such casing comprisi g a flat face to guide the 68 97 W s 9 1928 open links of the chain, a pair of sprockets on 1793679 3 2; 2% parallel transverse axis in the casing and mesh 2100601 i g 1937 ing with the chain, a pivoted pawl movable se- 

